Google is hoping to build the world’s largest digital
filing cabinet in the latest attempt to deepen people’s dependence on
its services.
The Internet search leader’s latest
product stores personal documents, photos, videos and a wide range of
other digital content on Google’s computers. By keeping their files in
massive data centres, users will be able to call up the information on
their smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and just about any other
Internet-connected device.
Google announced the
long-rumoured service on Tuesday. Available immediately, Google Drive is
offering the first five gigabytes of storage per account for free.
Additional storage will be sold for prices starting at $2.49 per month
25 gigabytes.
Google Inc. will be competing against
similar storage services offered by Microsoft, Apple and rapidly growing
start-ups such as Dropbox.